In an empowering photo shoot for ‘Sports Illustrated’ Swimsuit, Aly Raisman poses nude and shares the messages she lives by as a survivor of sexual abuse.

Aly Raisman joins Sailor Brinkley-Cook, Paulina Porizkova and Robyn Lawley in a very important shoot titled ‘In Her Own Words’ for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue 2018. For the shoot, the women pose completely naked, with empowering messages written across their bodies. The idea of the shoot is to prove that women are free to speak about who thy truly are and want to be. Throughout the last several months, Aly has been an important public face of women empowerment in the midst of the USA Gymnastics abuse scandal. Aly was one of hundreds of women to accuse Dr. Larry Nassar of sexual abuse, and has been incredibly vocal about bringing change to the U.S. Gymnastics program in the wake of his case (Dr. Nassar was sentenced to a total of 140-360 years in prison after two separate trials).

For her shoot, Aly had phrases like “Trust yourself,” “Live 4 you” and “Abuse is never okay” written across her naked body. She also wore minimal makeup and let her hair fall in loose waves for a completely natural look. “One of the coolest things about this shoot is that we are our own directors, which never happens,” Aly explained in a behind-the-scenes video. “You get to a shoot and there’s so many people on set, everyone’s kind of telling you how to pose, which way to go, what to do and then here, it was so cool because we were in full control. I think everyone goes through really hard times and I’ve decided to be so honest about what I went through because the tough times are very hard to talk about and they are uncomfortable, but they are equally as important into shaping us as the good times.”

Aly also reiterated in the mag that people should not be ashamed to be survivors of sexual abuse….or be afraid to look sexy for fear of being disrespected. “I hope that we can one day get to a point where everyone realizes that women do not have to be modest to be respected,” she added. “We are free to draw confidence and happiness in our own way, and it is never for someone else to choose for us or to even judge us for that matter.”

HollywoodLifers, what do you think of Aly’s shoot for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit?